Use of atomic spectrometry for the investigation of ancient manuscripts

The analytical investigation of ancient manuscripts for conservation purposes has been carried out. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine the elemental composition (Na-23, Ag-107, Ag-109, Pb-206, Pb-207, Pb-208, Bi-209, Mg-24, Al-27, Mn-55, Fe-56, Fe-57, Cu-63, Cu-65, Zn-66, Zn-68) of micro-samples from a real manuscript. Based on this procedure, model paper samples were prepared, which were used to investigate the possibility of reducing the iron-gall ink corrosion. For this purpose the efficiency of the solid-liquid extraction of iron by different ligands from paper was examined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Residual amounts of iron and copper in the paper samples were determined by ICP-MS after microwave digestion (HNO3, 1 + 1).